That’s Not My Job

"Coaching changed my business and my life."

These are perhaps the four deadliest words to your career. If you tend to see things through the prism of who else is responsible for a particular project or task or problem, I recommend you rethink that approach.

The world is changing at such a rapid pace that companies, clients, business partners and employers have little time for people looking to pass responsibility on to someone else.

What those four words effectively communicate is that you are either incapable or unwilling to be valuable to an organization. You also just conceded that another person is more capable than you.

So which is it? Are you incapable or unwilling? And which of those two do you think people are looking at when considering who to keep on a team?

Try these four words instead: “How can I help?” Or, more directly, “Let me do that.”

You can only have something (or someone) of value when the amount of money you invest or pay is exceeded by what you get in return. Be valuable. Return more than expected.

Questions: Have you ever caught yourself saying, “That’s not my job”? How do you respond when other’s say that to you?

You couldn't be more right, Carrie. People's sense of entitlement kills me. It makes me angry, actually! People don't deserve anything. You earn it through hard work and a willingness to do what others won't.

Carrie Beck

When it's said to me it's a clear signal that person has a misplaced sense of entitlement. My response is typically "Well, it's your job NOW."

You couldn't be more right, Carrie. People's sense of entitlement kills me. It makes me angry, actually! People don't deserve anything. You earn it through hard work and a willingness to do what others won't.

Guest

I hear that all the time where I work. It results in an overall culture of little follow-through, and the work suffers in the end. It’s a pointless and unproductive statement.